


The Result

by White_Rabbits_Clock



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Experimentation, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-08-14 19:11:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8025625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Rabbits_Clock/pseuds/White_Rabbits_Clock
Summary: Garnet sees, in her future vision, a new gem monster. Except this one looks very human.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My fandom blog is here, and if you see something you'd like written, go ahead and ask me.
> 
> https://whosefandomisitanyways.tumblr.com/

Steven loves sprinkles, even though there’s a chemical aftertaste to them. He loves the way they can make a donut look fabulous right before you eat it. And now he’ll have to wait to eat the two in the bag. He tosses it onto the couch and licks chocolate frosting off of his fingers, swings his cheeseburger backpack up onto his shoulder, and runs for the portal, beating Amethyst by half a second.

“Steven,” Garnet says, calm and quiet as usual.

“Yeah, Garnet?”

“Be careful.”

“Okay.” He braces himself as light surrounds the four of them, transferring them out to the Strawberry Battlefield. They step off and start to pace the length of the place.

“Garnett? What are we looking for?”

“There’s someone here. She’s not like other humans.”

Something dark flickers out of Steven’s peripheral vision, and the youngest gem turns to look, but it’s not there. The next person to see it is Amethyst.

“Ah… Garnett? I think it’s following us!”

“Stay together and keep calm. We’ll find her when she’s ready.”

“When she’s- “Pearl starts, only to interrupt herself as she, too sees the flicker.

“This is starting to worry me, Garnett.” Garnett doesn’t respond, just steps forward.

“We dunno who you are, but we don’t want to hurt you! Please come out!” She says, trying to bypass the anticipation.

“You’re a fusion.” A disembodied voice observes.

“Yes.”

“So you’re different.”

“Yes.”

“Then you might be telling the truth.” Pearl moves closer to Garnett, thoroughly worried. The voice has yet to gain a point of origin, followed by Steven and Amethyst.

“Yes.” The strawberry vines move, prompting the group to turn to see a figure materialize. She is tall, taller than Pearl, almost as tall as Garnett. Her hair looks like Garnet’s, too, only it is separated into long ropes of tangles, and her skin is darker, too. She walks up to Garnet and tilts her head back.

“What do you want?”

“To make sure you’re okay, love.”

“I am.”

“No, you’re not,” she says, a gentleness in her voice, “you’re very, very hurt.”

“Says you.” Garnet just looks at the girl, who looks right back before she drops her head, acquiescing. Garnet opens her hands, inviting. It seems to be more than the girl can take, because she takes a step back.

“No,” she mumbles, eyes seeming to slide right over their little group; seeing something darker, more malevolent, than what is actually here.

“No, you’re just like them. You’re just like them all!” She says, backing away, apparently having changed her mind.

“Poof her,” Garnet says quietly, sadly, gravely. Pearl darts directly forward, Amethyst going a wider path.

Garnet follows Pearl, skirting her attack until the girl is cornered between the two. The girl doesn’t hesitate. A small knife slides out of her sleeve and into her hand, the blade flicking out of the handle.

She looks around, then runs at Pearl. The knife slides along the spear, sparks flying. What Pearl does not see coming is the second blade, which slips like a thin serpent into Pearl’s abdomen and dragging sharply upward, poofing her a few seconds after the blade’s withdrawal.

At the same time, Garnet runs forward, trying to stop her, and Amethyst overshoots when whirling forward at lightning speed.

Then Steven is there behind Pearl, trying to trap her with the shield, only for the girl to vault over it and disappear back into the thorns. Then the girl is gone like so much smoke. Steven looks at Pearl’s gem, held gently between Garnet’s two strong hands.

“How did that even happen?” Amethyst rasps, eyes wide with something between wonder and anger.

“She’s better than I thought,” Garnet says, adjusting her glasses. They walk, defeated, back to the portal.

“What happens now?”

“We leave her, love, and try again another day.” Light surrounds them, taking them back home.

Once the house materializes around them, Steven takes the gem from Garnet and sets it down on a pillow and sinks down to wait. Pearl will be back, and he won’t make the same mistake as last time.

When he looks up, Garnet is gone.

“Where…?” Steven says.

“Out,” Amethyst says with a shrug. Even she seems to have lost her enthusiasm for life in the wake of Pearl’s poofing.

…

 

The girl pulls a strawberry off a vine near her shoulder, biting and sighing silently at the sweet taste and overflow of juice that spills down her chin and onto her clothes.

“You’re quite messy, aren’t you?” She jumps up and pulls one of her knives out, only to lose them to Garnet’s lightning fast hands. She hits the girl’s head hard, trying to poof her, only to draw… blood?

“You’re human,” Garnet mumbles to herself as the girl falls to the ground, unconscious. This… this is different. And maybe detrimental.


	2. How Very Strange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet has to make a choice, and Steven and Connie get Serious.

 

Garnet does not trust the girl. She has so many potentials, some of them ending abruptly, some branching out into infinity. She has no basis for this girl in her arms and no way to tell what she’ll do. So she turns from her future vision. She knows that this is a dangerous girl. She doesn’t think she can trust her enough to let Steven be around and do his thing.

So she takes the girl to the forge, cold and barren with the lack of Bismuth. She gets a strange twist in her chest and abdomen. She misses Bismuth. Misses how strong she was on her own and so different and yet much the same as the two of them (or three, as it were). She remembers the first time she realized what humans sleep in. How she thought, way back when, that Bismuth would have liked a bed. That she would have liked to spend time with those who survived the battle just being.

But by the time Garnet discovered beds, it was much too late. Bismuth had already been lost. Then they found her again, only for the reason behind it all to resurface once more, thousands of years later. Being poofed is like sleep, and it was not kind to their metalworker.

 Garnet wants to throw up as she steps into the forge with the girl in her arms. As a gem, she is unable to have human reactions, but it seems as if all this time on earth has given her a pseudo set of them. She lays the girl down and steps back to look at her. At this point, she is afraid to look ahead.

Each time she does, there’s a bit of fear of what she’ll see. But this girl… she does not just look human, she is human. Garnet does not know what to do. Logically, she should open her eye and take a look ahead, but it has limited use here.

For one thing, she doesn’t know this girl- who she is, what she does, where she comes from and why she’s never run into her before- and she can’t look into the past to find out. Given the way that time works, she can only look so far into the future before she overloads herself- it’s a painful experience, which means that, in order to prepare, she would have to pin down the likely paths the girl will take, prepare for all of them, and then hope that she doesn’t take one of the infinite other paths that she could go.

Because she has so little to work off of, her concentration would be stretched too thin. She would overload, and the others would be left to fend or befriend this girl on their own. Even if she looked at each path separately, it’s still too much to hold in her mind all at once. So she sets the girl down, looks far enough to see whether or not she’ll be hostile when she wakes up, and waits.

 

…

 

“So… Garnet just left?” Connie says, adjusting her stance for the hundredth time.

“Yeah. She seemed kind of worried.” Steven lunges, one of Pearl’s swords being blocked by Connie’s.

“How can you tell if she’s worried or not?”

“Eh,” Steven blocks twice, “ya learn to read the silences after a while.”

“That’s cool,” Connie says with a hard grunt. Her own lunge sends Steven’s sword arm back far enough for her to level her own at his throat. She tilts her head and gives Steven a serious look. “Concede.”

“Conceded!” he says, a small laugh bubbling up from his throat. Connie helps him up and the two put their swords away.

“You’re getting better at this.”

“I am, aren’t I?” he says with a little pride and faux showmanship in his voice.

“You think she’ll be back soon?” There’s a sort of silent expectation that Connie feels from Garnet- a challenge to be as good a fusion as her. To be as good to Steven as Sapphire is to Ruby, and vice versa. It’s a challenge she likes. One that sometimes encourages her forward and makes her put in the effort.

“Probably. There’s no telling what Garnet gets up to when she doesn’t want us to know.”

“Do you think it has something to do with that gem monster you found?”

“Probably. She did poof Pearl, after all.”

“You think it’s revenge?”  Connie asks, recalling the story Steven had told her about when he and Garnet had first found the forced fusions. How Garnet had almost fallen apart over it. How she’d seemed murderous after she’d pulled herself back together.

“It could be, but Garnet’s too… kind for it, I think.”

“But she was a soldier, a very long time ago.”

“Yeah, but we’re not at war.”

“You really think that?” Steven shrugs.

“We’re on earth. There’s no one here who wants to hurt or kill us.”

“But they keep sending people. The ruby crew. Jasper and Peridot. They even dragged Lapis back here. If it’s not war, it’s about to be,” Connie says. She seems wise, sometimes. Wiser than anyone gives her credit for.

“I hope not. The last time that happened, the gems lost everyone they knew. I don’t want to see any of them actually die. It’s hard enough watching someone get poofed.”

“And you, Steven? If they get a hold of you, you’re dead. They won’t even understand anything about you or believe what you say or listen or anything.” Steven shrugs.

“But they’d be shattered.”

“And you’d be experimented on.” Steven gives Connie a confused look.

“Why are we talking about them and me? It’s us.”

“I know. I’m just saying that if this thing really does turn into a full-scale war, you need to be careful. We all need to be careful. Okay?”

“O… okay.” They get up off the grass where they were sitting moments ago and dust their butts off, giggling.

“Has Pearl regenerated?”

“No, but that’s okay. Pearl’s a careful gem. She’ll take her time and be back when she’s ready.”

“You want to see if Amethyst will play hide and go seek with us?” Steven glances up at the house.

“Yeah. She’s been getting bored a lot lately.”

“Cool!” Connie says, and the two take off, in search of juice and fun.  


…

 

On the couch in the living room, warm light begins to radiate out of Pearl’s room, heralding her formation. She sits on the couch and presses a hand to her chest. If she had a heart, it’s be thundering.

The girl’s eyes had been… strange. Her face and body alive… but not. How very strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoopdidee doopdie doo this took for fucking ever. Let me know what you think, guys.


	3. Garnet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet tries to talk to the girl.

 

Her head hurts, hair stiff in one spot. She doesn’t move for a while, trying to see if a gem was near, trying to remember where she is and how she got here. Eventually, she realizes that one of them- the big one with the glasses- had surprised her. She’s probably still near. Her bladder aches, and her stomach is hollow. She feels weak and irritated.

“I know you’re awake.” She opens her eyes, the gem with the glasses standing stock still, watching.

“Who are you?” she demands, taking a step closer.

“No one,” the girl responds, face and body tense where she lays on a great stone surface.

“Obviously not,” the fusion replies. She doesn’t mention that she’s run along a path in her mind, searching for the name and got a number. Got a bit more than that, too.

“I don’t have one,” she says eventually. She swings her legs in their skintight jumpsuit over the edge of the metal table. The place is still and silent, and she doesn’t understand what it could have been used for.

The room itself is large and has a series of chests (she thinks) and there are large jars on one end that seemed to be made to rest on their sides. The whole place is dark and dust seems to have settled here long ego. 

She studies the fusion. She doesn’t seem quite like the other fusions the girl come cross. Even the ones with two different kinds of gems. She seems… gentler. Or more trusting. Never in her life has she woken up after defeat not tied down.

“You know, if you’d like, you could pick a name. So that I know what to call you.” The girl glares.

“Why?”

“You might like it better,” the fusion says with a shrug.

“It is for identification. Not enjoyment,” she says stiffly, sliding down off the oddly shaped table. She pauses, watching for a reaction. She walks on her toes. Slowly, she draws closer, pacing a silent, wide circle. As she makes it back to the front of the fusion, she steps closer.

“You should have killed me,” is the only thing she says. The fusion smiles.

“We don’t do that here.”

“Here?”

“Earth.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not right.” The girl cocks her head to the side.

“What… is right?”

“It’s lettin’ everyone make their own choices.”

“How disorganized.” The fusion smiles.

“Do you want to know my name?” the girl cocks her head.

“No.”

“Then what will you call me?”

“What facets are you from?” Garnet furrows her eyebrows behind her reflective glasses.

“You’re from Homeworld,” she says, noticing the patterns on the sides of her jumpsuit for the first time, “and fairly recently so, too.” The girl just watches.

“Yes.”

“How did you get here?” 

“Flew,” she says, taking another small step closer. The fusion is like a magnet, and the girl is losing to her.

“In a ship?”

“In a ship.” For a moment, they just watch each other.

“My name’s Garnet, by the way.” She holds out one slim hand. It’s dead quiet in the forge. Slowly, the girl reaches out, fingertips touching Garnet’s before slowly sliding into place. Garnet smiles.

“Do you want to go outside?” The girl freezes.

“Yes,” she says, almost breathless. She wants to see the sun. She had liked it when she got here. Garnet’s grip tightens minutely as she turns to lead the girl around the table and to the door, up through the passage and out into the sunlight.

“Oh,” the girl says, because they’re surrounded by rock; hard grey, impenetrable rock. Just above the hard line of stone, the pale, brilliant sun rises, surrounded in a cloak of morning. The girl stops, grip on Garnet’s hand tightening.

“This is beautiful,” she says, low voice rich in wonder.

“Yeah.”

“They didn’t give me a… name.”

“Then what did they call you by?” There is silence.

“286-B24.”

“Why that?” The girl shrugs.

“Two hundred and eighty sixth generation, group B, specimen twenty-four.”

“So you are human.” The girl shrugs.

“My ancestors were.”

“Do you like your name?”

“That’s not a name,” the girl says, staring off, taking in the rocky, barren landscape, almost dreamlike in the light.

“You could pick one.”

“Who picks their own name?”

“I did.”

“We are too close,” she said abruptly, dropping Garnet’s hand and taking a step back.

“Not to me.”

“You knocked me unconscious.”

“And you poofed my friend.”

“Your friend should have kept her distance.” Garnet cocks her head.

“We could start over.”

“No one just starts over.”

“This is Earth. We have that privilege here.”

“It is impossible.” Garnet shrugged.

“Forgive and forget.”

“Forgetting invites more wrong.”

“And also stronger relationships.” The girl fell quiet.

“I suppose we could try.” Garnet held out her hand again.

“Hello, I’m Garnet.” The girl takes it and holds it briefly before letting it go again.

“I am 286-B42.” There is a moment of silence; the tension nearly solid, before Garnet gives a little smile, and the girl smiles back.

“We should get your head seen to.” The girl follows Garnet as the fusion leads her away and back towards civilization. The fusion spent hours painstakingly looking for a solution, and this had seemed like the best one.

She just hopes this works.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. Let me know what you think! (Please?)


	4. Connie's House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet takes the gem monster to see a human doctor.

Garnet throws open the front door to the house, calling out a “we’re here!” as they go. 

“Garnet!” Steven and Amethyst say, jumping up and running over to her, only to stop at the sight.

“You got her,” Steven says, something like curiosity and caution in his voice. She did, after all, poof Pearl, and Steven has, more than once, learned the price of quick trust. 

“Yes, and she needs her head seen to.” Steven brightens.

“Connie’s mom is a doctor!” he blurts, pulling out his phone.

“Steven?” Connie answers from the other line.

“Yeah! Is your mom home?”

“Yeah…”

“We found a new gem mutant! And she needs a doctor…” Steven says, trailing off as he apparently realized the logic gap.

“But I thought Gems didn’t need doctors…?”

“I’m not sure either, but Garnet says she needs her head seen to.”

“Oh… okay. Just one second.” On the other end of the line, Steven hears muffled talking.

“Mom says she’ll help, but she wants to know whether you’re coming here or if she should go there?”

“We’ll go to Connie’s house,” Garnet says, turning to the girl. 

“You have a concussion, so I suggest we hurry,” she says.

“I am fine,” 286-B24 responds.

“No, you aren’t, so trust me. We’ll take care of you,” Garnet says, stepping closer.

“At what cost?” the girl answers.

“No cost; it’s a gesture. Of allies.” Garnet says, seeming to almost perfectly understand how 286-B24 thinks. 

“Okay.”

“Come on,” Garnet says, carefully picking her up and fairly leaping off of their cliffside home, through the town, and out onto the very far side of it, where Connie and her parents live. As Garnet stands in front of the doorway, she sets the girl down.

“Connie’s mom is a doctor. She’ll help your head.”

“But she is no ally?”

“She is,” Garnet says, knocking on the door.

“Coming!” The thing flies open, and Connie appears.

“Hi, Garnet! Oh! You must be the gem?”

“Yes.”

“Come in! Mom’s in the kitchen.” The dining room, well lit with a first aid kit opened on the table, bears a single human adult. The girl, already on her feet, stops to stare. She has never seen one of these up close without them being hostile.

 

…

 

So Garnet went after the gem alone. But what kind of gem bleeds? The question runs around and around in Steven’s head as he and Amethyst ride through a portal on Lion’s back. Garnet had left him, since it was faster for just the two of them.

And it seems to Steven that this gem monster- whoever or whatever she may be, isn’t from earth. What she did say doesn’t make sense for someone who has been on earth for five thousand years.

So to chalk it up, a very cognizant gem mutant who is not from here has presented a big enough threat for Garnet to want her poofed who just so happens to bleed like a human- like Steven, come to think of it… well, she’s like nothing Steven’s ever seen before.

Steven wishes they had Pearl with them. She would know what to do. The portal spits them out at the entrance to Connie’s neighborhood.

In the late evening twilight, there’s not much to see; all the kids are in doors, at least. Steven notices that some faces appear in windows, only to be brought away and replaced by older ones. He glances behind him at Amethyst and back at the houses Lion gallops by.

Just as they reach Connie’s house, Garnet pokes her square head out of the door, shakes her head, and closes it. It’s order enough for them. For half an hour, Steven, Amethyst, and Lion sit on the sidewalk outside the house before it opens again, admitting Connie, Garnet, and the girl. She looks at the three, and looks back at Garnet, who gives her a small smile.

She walks up to Steven, holds out her hand, and says: “Hello. My name is 286-B24.” Steven pauses. What kind of name is that…?

“I’m Steven,” he recovers with quickly, shaking her hand. 

“We’ll see you two back at the house.” Garnet picks up 286-B42, and the two are gone, leaving Connie out on the walk.

“Steven…” Connie says, watching the direction in which Garnet vanished just moments ago. 

“Yeah?”

“She’s so strange.”

“Yeah. I guess she is. But so is Peridot.” Connie inclines her head.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she concedes with a little giggle. Peridot is strange, and now she loves it here. They’ll just have to hope that the story repeats itself.

“Connie, time for bed. You’ve got school tomorrow.”

 

…

 

Garnet sets down the girl outside the house, and opens the door for her.

“Why do you carry me?”

“You needed help.”

“No, I didn’t. I am strong.” 

“Well, now it’s over with, and it’s time for bed.”

“I do not sleep at this hour.”

“You hit your head. You need sleep.”

“You hit my head, and I do not need sleep,” 286-B24 says, but she seems to be at a loss for what else she should do, so she walks around the common areas, up the stairs, down the stairs, around and over the warp pad, into the bathroom, and directly into a wave of dizziness, which stays her wanderings.

“Now I need sleep,” she declares. Garnet waits for her to straighten up again before leading her beyond the warp pad and into her own room, which is dark and rocky and warm and dry. In the corner of the room is a rounded couch thing, big enough to comfortably fit someone twice Garnet’s height. It’s here that she leads 286-B24.

“You can sleep here.”

“But what if your enemies come?”

“They can’t get in here. Not unless I allow it.”

“Oh.” she says, and carefully stretches across the bed-couch thing. Garnet doesn’t join her- doubts she’s ready for it- but she does stay for long enough to make sure that the girl is actually asleep.

She takes her in, from the diamond pattern resting against her scapula, to her skin tight homeworld suit to her strange, stiff speech, as though she’s not used to conversation. Garnet thinks that, if what she was able to make a prediction of actually comes closer to reality instead of fizzling out like so many other things, they have a lot of work to do. But this is good. This is a good start. 

Now to go talk to Steven. They need a game plan, after all.


	5. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 286-B24 remembers. Garnet gets snoopy.

On monday, Garnet lets 286-B24 out of her room and brings her away from the fortress and to the farm. There, Peridot and Lapis and Steven are waiting. They sit on the floor of the barn, playing cards, waiting until Garnet’s arrival. 

It’s in everyone’s best interest if they don’t… excite the girl anymore than they already have; it’s hardly fair to expect someone from homeworld to get the way the gems work, and, looking back, Garnet feels a bit guilty on the subject of Peridot. The little gem had hardly been equipped to handle Earth anymore than Jasper was.

She supposes it’s only by sheer luck that the former had avoided the fate of the latter. Garnet and the girl touch down at the portal near the barn and make their slow way along through plants growing tall and strong in the late summer heat; the harvest is almost upon them. Perhaps Steven would like to help with this.

Even though it’s early in the morning- the girl had woken up at four but they’d waited until seven- the heat already touches their backs, all warm and gentle like the hot chocolate that Steven had managed to get Garnet to drink. Like Ruby when the two gems deigned to be apart on the rare occasion that they wished to touch more than be one another.

The Barn doors had been thrown open wide at the first touch of the sun over the horizon, and Garnet heads for it’s great, comparatively dark, mouth.

“You say they are from Homeworld.” The girl says, face impassive. 

“Yes.” They say nothing else until they stand just outside of the barn. 

“Hi Garnet! Hi… uh,” Steven says as he stands and runs towards them, “what’s your name again?”

“286-B24.”

“Do… do you want to be called anything else?” Even Steven doesn’t seem to be able to escape the awkwardness of the girl’s “name”

“No,” the girl says, unruffled.

“Okay. Lapis! Peridot!” Steven says, unaware that they’d come up behind him.

“We’re right here,” Lapis says, voice flat. She doesn’t like this… creature. She’d seen one like her- a pale male that had been as tall as a quartz soldier- when she’d gone home. She didn’t like how cold they could be then, with their living, breathing bodies and dead gazes. She certainly didn’t like the dark gaze of the one across from her. 

But if Garnet thought that 286-B24 would do better with Peridot’s and Lapis’ help, then she would. Anything to get through this awkward phase between landing on Earth and accepting it and the reality all Homeworld gems eventually find themselves in. Peridot doesn’t say anything, stomach twisting a bit. Garnet nods her head and departs. She has other things to do.

 

…

 

One by one, she warps from pad to pad, making the journey on foot in some places. With Amethyst back at the house, sworn to dealing with any potential problems, and Pearl still regenerating on the couch, there’s not much to stop her from doing this. She starts at the nearest portal and, keeping an ear out for passers by and or watchers coming through, she canvasses a large area.

Then she works in one direction until she winds up at the farthest pad, where she warps back to the first one and begins the search again, only in the other direction. She moves like this all day, and then all night, and all day again. 

In the late evening on the third day, she finds what she’s looking for. 

Do you still remember how to work one of these things?

I think so.

Garnet climbs inside the pod, sitting down, pushing her hands into the dashboard and connects to the cup and prime memory, looking for something that could tell her what the girl is here for. Little by little, she absorbs everything she can from this little batch of data.

 

…

 

286-B24 is outside, sitting on the metal roof, absorbing the late, dying rays of the sun. She hears small feet making uncertain footsteps. She allows it. They can do nothing she can be caught off guard by.

“Do you… remember me?” Peridot says after she sits for a while, taking the heat to the back.

“Yes,” she says, passive. She remembers perfectly clearly.

 

…

 

She walked behind and in the middle of two quartz guards, remembering what the pearl had said when she’d been sent to pick out a member of Group B, which, according to what the girl had gathered, hads been marked as “best suited for military duties”.

Just under fifteen minutes ago, she stood in a line with all 104 of her group, between 286-B23 and 286-B25, face and body set in stone. The pearl strode, long legs graceful and so very exposed, down the first row, containing thirteen  hominci. She pivoted, took a couple of steps, and strode down the second row. And the third, and the fourth, all the way back to the eighth. Then she did it again, only this time in reverse. When she walked past 286-B1 for the second time, she came to stand front and center again, next to their head commander, a Chatoyant Quartz.

They stood for four minutes and thirty seven seconds. Then the pearl turned and murmured something. The head commander looked over at 286-B24, who had not even so much as internally flinch.

“286-B24.” she said.

“Ma’am!” she says. She can feel the eyes of the pearl through the diamond salute she and the rest of them held up.

“Stay. The rest of you: dismissed.” Her group said, in perfect unison, a rousing yes ma’am, turned on their heels, and continued, heading for the door, where they dropped their solutes. The commander turns back to the girl.

“Go with this pearl. She is to deliver you to her master,” she, too, disappears beyond the doorway.

And the pearl had. While walking down the hallway, the pearl had turned.

“You don’t talk much do you?” the girl shook her head.

“Well, let me give you some advice, hominicus, don’t mention your problems. You should be dying before you bother my master with any of your problems. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” Then the pearl had delivered her to the hands of a peridot, who had taught her a few key bits of information, and after that, brought to the court of the great and powerful Yellow Diamond.

“This is the… hominicum?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s her report?” The peridot from earlier steps out from behind the girl, who’s been left there by the guards.

“My Diamond,” Peridot says as she offers up the girl’s receipt. The Diamond leans down and murmurs in the peridot’s ear, who crosses her arms in the salute before turning around, pulling out a gem destabilizer, and attempting to stab 286-B24.

An hour later, the Peridot and the guards have finally managed to trap the girl in the corner, stabbed numerous times by the two pronged instrument. She runs head on at the peridot and ducks to the side once a guard falls for it, easily making it out, only to be body slammed by the remaining soldier, and electrocuted until Yellow Diamond calls a halt.

She struggles to get up with the weight of the corpse.

“Bring her here.” she’s cuffed on the back of the head and dragged before the Diamond. She leans forward, elbow on knee, cold quadripointed eyes on the girl.

“You belong to me, now, and you’ll do whatever I say, whenever I say it, understood?” And the girl says nothing, just lifts her tired bloody arms into a salute.

“Good. Someone get her a uniform.”

 

…

 

“I’m sorry… about that.”

“It does not matter.” 286-B24 says, and that seems to be the end of it. Somewhere in her head, though, Peridot knows its not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would really like to know what you guys think.


	6. Peridot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gems take 286-B24 to see peridot to make things go a little smoother than it did the last three times.

286-B24 looks down at Steven. The boy wants to take her to the “thrift store” to get some new “threads”. The girl feels like there is… something she has missed when he says that. Why did he bunch his shoulders up and point his fingers at her, a strange expression on his face?

“Your facial expression does not match the statement,” the girl says. 

“Uh… yeah it does,” Amethyst says from where she reclines on the couch.

“No, it doesn’t. The expression is nonsensical, so the statement would need to be too. By “Thrift Store” I’m assuming you are referring to a building similar to The Big Donut (Steven has only just returned from there not two hours ago), only it sells “thrifts” instead of non nutritional edibles,” Amethyst starts to laugh. Pearl cracks a smile. Connie hides a giggle. 286-B24 purses her lips together and crosses her arms, defiant.

“Come on, 4, just come on and we’ll show you the Thrift Store,” Steven says.

“Yeah, it’ll be great!” The girl narrows her eyes at Connie and Steven.

“No. You go to the thrift store. You be great there. I will decline, since all you wish to do is be illogical.”

“Come on! Don’t be like that,” Amethyst says with a laugh. 286-B24 glances at her.

“If you are not in charge, do not speak to me of my behavior.”

“Calm down,” another, deeper voice says from the entrance to the temple. 286-B24 looks  in that direction, where Garnet strolls out. 

“Steven, take her to see Peridot. Give them some time alone together,” Garnet orders as she takes a seat on the couch next to Pearl.

“O… okay.”

 

…

 

True to his word, Steven does take 286-B24 to see Peridot and leaves soon after a serious toned, whispered conversation is had. For a moment, it’s quiet while the two watch for the bright glow of a warp pad activating.

“They mean well, but they don’t really get what it’s like, coming here and having to adjust to this… absolute mess when everything was well ordered and easily understood for our whole lives back on Homeworld,” Peridot says into the silence. She suspects that a lot of their conversations will be just this right here.

Someone says something, and they can’t explain it to 286-B24 as well Peridot can, leading to the short gem making little speeches like this one.

“They are illogical, and they do not care.” It’s ten thirty in the morning, and the two have their backs to the warm sun.

“No, I suppose they don’t,” Peridot says with a sigh.

“I… I wish they would not do things I don’t understand and then not explain. They act as though I am the fool.”

“Yeah. But they did that back on Homeworld, too. It was more politics than this little stuff.”

“This little stuff is impossible to navigate.”

“Yeah. You get used to it after a while though. What did they say?”

“They said they wanted to take me to the “thrift shop” and buy “threads”. When Steven said “threads” he did this.” here, she imitates what he did.

“Oh! Yeah, those can be confusing, but basically, anytime he does that, he’s using something called “Subtext” to make a joke. I’ve never seen him use it for anything else, so it’s not something you have to worry about.

“Oh.”

“But the thrift store. That’s a fun place to go.” 

“Why?”

“Because you get to pick out your own body modifiers. The only thing is you need someplace to store them. They can't just be poofed away.

“Well, I can’t poof my current body modifiers away.”

“Right. Well, then. To the thrift store!”

“Do we not need some sort of currency to collect body modifiers?”

“Oh, if Steven planned to take you there, he’ll have currency. By the way, they’re called “dollars”, which can be broken down into “cents”, so they generally something is five dollars and ninety cents or five-ninety.

“Okay.” In no time, they are standing at the edge of the warp pad, and 286-B24 just sort of looks at it.

“You remember the geopod?” She asks, 

“I was hoping you’d forgotten that was me.”

“You nearly got me killed.”

“It wasn’t on purpose.” 286-B24 looks Peridot in the eye.

“Maybe not, but I know what a test looks like when I see it.” Peridot seems to get kind of scared.

“Look, 286-B24. It was you or me. There was no other way. They said they’d shatter me if I didn’t do it!” She says, her voice getting higher. Squeakier. She’d seen what 286-B24 can do. She knows what they bred her for, and it scares Peridot.

It had scared them all. 

Peridot remembers the first time she’d seen it in action.

 

…

 

_ 2F5L Cut-5XG sat at the computer dock, hands wrist deep in code as she monitored. Around the room were three other peridots- 2F5L Cut-6XG, 2F4L Cut-7XG and 2F4L Cut-8XG, all monitoring their own clusters of robonoids.  _

_ These are later models, outfitted with small, durable wings to better take advantage of the highly windy atmosphere of the planet they’re above.  _

_ “Report,” says the lead jasper. _

_ “Group 1: Secure.” _

_ “Group 2: Secure.”  _

_ “Group 3: insecure. Gem forms spotted travelling in five packs of four or five each. Estimated height: 2 meters. Estimated weight: 27 kg. Known defenses: lethal claws and acid spit.” _

_ “Group 4: Secure.” The eight people in the room watch the red area “group 4” covers. The cameras attached to the flight robonoids in question give the jaspers a visual on the scene. _

_ For a moment, all is quiet. Then: _

_ “Procede as planned.” _


	7. A Continuation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part Two of 286-B24's miraculous scary ass ability.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The codes for the walkie talkie stuff is at the end.

_One of the Jaspers turns to rap on the door to the latter part of the ship. A moment later, it opens, admitting a strange gem with dark brown skin and a broad, nubian nose. She stands up straight and looks straight ahead, dark eyes fixed on the screens monitoring the native species._

_“Avoid those,” A jasper says as she turns and leads the way back through to the posterior of the ship. The girl follows. The lead gem keys a combination that opens a small door, which slides back to  reveal a small, padded container._

_“You know the drill?” The smaller person shakes her head. The jasper gives her an annoyed look._

_“No one told you?” Another shake._

_“Very quickly: Get in, make sure you can brace yourself. The capsule will release and, barring any upward drafts, will hit the ground in 37 seconds. As it goes it will drift from side to side as it passes through wind currents. Because of said winds, there will be no parachute, nor anything to slow your fall. Keep your tongue in your mouth, and do. Not. Panic._

_“Once the pod lands, you are to make sure the coast is clear. Once you have established this, exit and complete your mission. There is an emergency door in the back, should you land in such a way that would bar you from exiting this one. Clear?” A nod is all the jasper gets._

_“Good. May your diamond be with you.” The jasper jerks her head at the small opening, and the girl climbs inside, engages the seat belts, and clamps her jaw shut. No bitten tongues today._

_“Remember,” the soldier says one more time, “ don’t panic.” Then the peridots at the front are toggling the settings on the capsule to close the door. A speaker emits speech next._

_“Hatch is open.”_

_“Safety clamps are disengaged._

_“Dropping in three… two… one…”_

_The world falls away from 286-B24 as she drops like a stone tossed about in an invisible sea._

_“Speed at 57 m/s.”_

_“55 m/s.”_

_“Unexpected updraft,” someone says as the pod changes directions for a brief moment._

_“Down to 43 m/s.”_

_“Impact in ten seconds,” the female clamps her mouth shut one more time and maneuvers her hands into the straps affixed to either wall._

_“5 seconds.”_

_“Speed 60 m/s.”_

_“Two… one…” A sharp, sudden upward thrust of her world jolts the human as her helmet bangs back against her seat._

_“Engaging transparency.” The girl lets go of the handles and undoes her seat belt. This red planet has a lot of dust. Understandable, given the wind._

_“No life forms sighted,” she says._

_“Engaging door.” The pod opens and 286-B24 hops out, pulling her hood over her head. Her helmet projects information onto the face plate. Wind is 32.85 mph north by northwest. Temp is 51 degrees fahrenheit. Life signs are nonexistent within a hundred mile radius with the exception of a single point to the south. Heat signature: none. Movement: none. This is her target._

_286-B24 turns into the wind and begins to walk, body alert for the sudden directional change the wind could have._

_“You’re approaching an area likely to storm. It’s suggested to use extreme caution and prepare for the worst.” Comes a grainy peridot’s voice over the comms._

_“10-1 and copy that.”_

_“How are your vitals?”_

_“Heart rate is 173. Blood pressure is 186/80.”_

_“Check in when there’s a change.” 286-B24 knows they can see through the cameras on her helmet, but with this wind and the dust it’s kicking up, visibility is next to zero._

_“Copy that and out.” The traveller wonders, and not for the first time, why she would be trained in everything but the actual drop from the ship to the ground. The small speck of life gets closer, and she adjusts her directions to make sure it’s bisected by the y axis of her compass._

_“Approaching life sign now. Still no movement.” There’s no answer for all of ten seconds, so the human repeats._

_“10-1 and Copy that.” Well, crap. Not only is there no movement, but-_

_“No physical presence of the life sign. I think it’s buried right underneath where I’m standing.”_

_“Copy that.” 286-B24 accessed the map projected to the side of her helmet and adjusted the map from 2- to 3D._

_“Life form is an estimated two feet below the surface.”_

_“Copy that.” Just then, the signal deadens entirely._

_286-B24 drops to her knees and starts digging, careful to shovel up dirt in the direction of the wind or sideways to keep it from sliding back down into her hole. Eventually, after about an hour’s slow decrease of wind speed, the soldier unearthed what she was looking for: a small, smooth gemstone buried in sand._

_The human pulls off her backpack and tucks the gem safe inside a smaller, padded drawstring bag. She stands up again and looks up to see, through the thinning dust clouds, lightning._

_“11-99! 11-99! Extreme weather hazard possible tornado! Do you copy?” She can see her heartbeat getting a little more frantic where it’s being monitored to the side of her screen and works to calm herself down. Her helmet has excellent filters. Above all else, she will not be breathing sand. The suit- the whole thing- is specially designed for this planet. It does not conduct electricity. It will not overheat in case of a lightning strike. There’s very little in the area to be sucked up in a tornado. The suit, the helmet, and the bag have special padding, so even if she’s picked up and whirled around, damage to herself and the gemstone will be minimal. She’s going to be okay._

_In the meantime, all the monitors in her helmet are working, including the compass and map. She switches the latter back to 2D mode and focuses on where she should be heading. The wind has lessened, as if it’s all being drawn outside or into a circle. That being said, she has not been alerted to any actual phenomena greater than the surrounding area, so whatever is going to happen has yet to do so._

_That means she needs to make tracks if she’s going to beat it._

_The closest civilization is at least dozens of kilometers from here, but she knows the ship has not stayed; too dangerous to try staying in the air. So that leaves her with two options. She can turn north and make her way back to the pod and hide out in there, or she can head west, in the direction of the closest gem outpost. Either she can take her chances with the pod and hope it’s not buried under sand by now and that she can still find it, or she can take her chances with her stamina and capabilities and make her way to the outpost. One thing is for certain._

_The only food she has is in her bag, and that won’t last anywhere near long enough. 286-B24 checks her boots and her bag and, assured that everything is settled, sets the course for the outpost. Then she starts to run while the wind is kind._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11-99: Officer needs help! (I adapted this to mean a dire situation)  
> 10-1: bad signal  
> Copy that: I heard you
> 
> Please let me know what you think.
> 
> p.s. I don't know what to do if you get caught in a tornado or possible one, and neither does 286-B24, so we're making the best decision we can.


	8. The Execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of 286-B24's scary ass ability memory.

When she had first stuck her head out of her pod, 286-B24 had thought that the wind was a killer. Now it was twice as bad. The sand, should her skin be exposed to it, would cut like a billion tiny knives. The air and earth put up a fierce fight to keep their stolen treasure.

She zigzagged across the terrain, constantly course correcting as the great, cruel buffets hit her from one side, making it hard to walk in a straight line. She was halfway there. She did the first part. Now she needed to do the next one. Behind her the clouds had drawn closer, their dark, electrical hug becoming more of a threat by the moment. 

Her feet did not make tracks in the sand because the particles did not stay still. She put her head down, focused on her map and her gps and compass, and moved forward. 

Maybe it was hours, maybe it was days, but eventually, her destination rose like an invisible god in front of her. In her briefing, she was told that the outside of the structure was metal and stone. Both of these things can conduct electricity. The soldier knew she was not to touch it. 

Not if she knows what’s good for her. 

At the same time, she cannot stop. To pause even for a moment was to get a pile of sand at her windward side. She must keep moving. Her eyes have started to droop, but in this storm, she could not eat to gain energy. She made a left and skirts the perimeter until she finds herself in the lee. Then she went back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Her heart almost stops at the first strike of lighting. Dread seeped from her pulsing human’s heart as she saw what the bolt had left. A jagged, many pronged tower of glass about four feet high stuck up from the sand. So if exhaustion didn’t get her, the crystals would.

286-B24 tried to keep moving, but it only took a few minutes before she felt the peculiar… drippy feeling of her tiring. For a moment, the wind seemed to let up, and the soldier turned to look at the structure to see if there was not a door with an overhang she could take shelter under. Dread dropped her stomach so far it fell out of her ass. It wasn’t a colony. It’s just a giant rock. 

There was no hope of getting inside a fort that wasn’t there. She checked her helmet again and cursed in her head. The coordinates and everything are right. This was not a user error. Thinking quickly, before the wind came back in full force, she got closer to the stone structure and skirted it. 

If all she was looking at is a giant rock, then maybe there would be a little cave or fissure somewhere. As she was drawing along the side, getting closer to the least protected part of the rock, the lightning started back up again near her, throwing her against the rock and knocking the wind out of her. With a grown, she slid down, stood up, and continued on. She was no longer able to run.

Just as she hoped, a narrow fissure had opened up in the rock, and she ducked inside it without a second thought. No signs of life here, so not even any gemstones would be alive, should she find them and… oh…

Scattered about the floor cave was hundreds of gem shards. They did not gleam, for they were covered in sand, but she knew what they were. Though her helmet showed her as the only sentient being, she could feel them, alive, inside her. Cracked. Separated. Broken. Scared.

The emotions of unliving things swirled in her gut like a witch's noxious brew in its cauldron, and 286-B24 thought she would be sick all over the inside of her suit. With some effort, she forces herself to take measured, labored breaths until the nausea passes.

“-24 do you read?”

“Copy that.”

“Shatter the gem.”

“The one in my bag?”

“Yes.”

“On what?”

“Back of the cave. Where the concentration of shards is thickest.”

“Why?”

“It’s not your job to ask why. It’s your job to take orders.”

“I…”

“Do it.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“Do it. Out.” the line went dead again as the pieces clicked into place. If that gem had really just gotten poofed here by the local fauna, it would have been more than just a couple of feet down. The map gave her false info, which not only nearly cost her her life, but left her in a state of exhaustion so palpable she could almost sit on it and led her to this devil’s cave. The comms didn’t clear until she got here. They were planning this all along. 

This death planet was not some wonder of the universe that harbors some rare resource. She’s not here to save some archeologist or important member of society who had a bit of bad luck. This was her final test. 

This was finishing school; break her down and, when she can’t go any farther, have her do something atrocious. Every bit of coercion after that would be easy. If she shattered a gem herself in the middle of no where, she would do whatever else is required of her.

She would be easy. She took off her pack and pulled out the gem. It’s small and dark green. An emerald. 

“Wake up. Oh, please, wake up,” she begged it, voice mechanical through her helmet. She needed to know what to do. She can’t just straight break a person. Not when… not when she thought she was saving it. 

The emerald, having spent enough time asleep, forms after a few minutes. It formed, huge and beautiful, in front of her. 286-B24 just looked up at her from where she’d fallen to her knees among the shards.

“I take it you’re supposed to shatter me,” the emerald said as she knelt and looked the homini where her eyes could be, should they be visible. 286-B24 just nods. She’s too tired to fight, and too conflicted to finish it. The emerald stared at her for a long while. Then she moved to the opening of the cave, angled in such a way that the wind slides along parallel to it rather than into the cave.

286-B24 found her feet and stood still. After a while, the emerald turns to look back at her.

“Do you read? Finish it!” the peridot screams in her ear. It’s only when the emerald is towering over her once more that 286-B24 registers the utter terror.

“That one manipulates wind!” The soldier reacted a second to late. The emerald hit her so hard that she flew backwards, partially impaling herself on the jagged spike of rock she was to break the gem against.

The girl screamed as the jagged double pain of being stabbed and having that object removed from the body spikes through her, completely shutting her down. She fell to her knees and then onto her side, trying not to make noise. Trying to keep it to herself.

The emerald walked to her and looked down. With her foot, she nudged 286-B24 onto her back, earning her a whimper as tears flowed up and poured down her face on the inside of her mask. She thought she saw a flash of pity and then:

“Sorry kid. It’s you or me.” Then the emerald is gone. 

“Status report!” The peridot said. The homini doesn’t respond as her red human’s blood spilled all over the sand and spread out all over the place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this is late. Please let me know what you think.


	9. The Emerald

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 286-B24 wins (this is the last of this flashback guys)

_ The homini stared up at the cave’s ceiling, out of it. _

_ “286-B24, STATUS REPORT!” a peridot yells into her ear. _

_ “Injury… of unknown size and severity on the back side. Losing blood fast. Vision… vis… vision is b-blurry, hearing is difficult. Focus is nonexistent. I think… I think this is it.” she says, breaking protocol. _

_ “Finish the report!” _

_ “Can’t. Don’t know anything else. This is 286-B24 signing off.” She closes her eyes and sighs. God, it’s good to let go. _

_ Hours later, she woke up, back on fire, dry heaving. Before she could think about what she was doing, she turned on her side and, half dead with a perceived lack of air, opened her helmet. The dust joined and muted the sour taste in her mouth, and her watering eyes got drier in the sand and rock scented air. But her breathing was slowing, normalizing. _

_ She laid there, eyes closed, sweat cooling, head aching. She zoned out with the edge of her mask a big blurry streak in her vision and the tiny pebbles on the cave floor forming the fore middle and background. _

_ Eventually, she pushed herself up, muscles weak like they’ve been in the same position for a long time, and looked around. She could see where she’d bled. It was a dark rust brown, but there seemed to be much less of it than she’d thought. The storm was still blowing outside, but it was the least of her concerns. _

_ She remembered hitting the jagged spike of rock, it impaling her, front to back. Falling, knees striking the stone floor and digging into all the fragments of executed gems. The emerald, with a look of pity on her face. She isn’t injured, but there are two jagged rips stained with blood (again, minimal) in her suit. No fragments littered the cave floor now. The emerald must have done something. She sat back on her bum and leaned against the wall.  _

_ The girl pressed her comm. _

_ “This is Homini 286-B24 of Voyager ZI-976 clocking in. Do you read Voyager ZI-976?” Static. She repeats the message twice more before giving up. After she drifts for a bit, an idea comes to her. She lowers her hand and closes her face plate before turning on the recording function of her helmet. _

_ “This is Homini 286-B24 of reporting from System I-V-B, Planet 7, of Voyager ZI-976 reporting on oh-2-oh-4-150356102156. Time is 23:02. Reporting extreme soreness on the left lower side, both anteriorly and posteriorly, a migraine beginning from the base of the neck and encompassing the entire right hemisphere. Mild pains in all extremities in addition to mild to heavy bruising. An injury was sustained several hours ago that caused unconsciousness. Outside interference is suspected, as the injury is no longer present but a minimal amount of blood and damage to the suit remains.  _

_ “The Voyager ZI-976 is not responding. Suspected recall to Homeworld. The current conditions are as follows: all supplies are intact, the storm is still going on but seems to have lessened somewhat. With respect to the damage on the midsection of the suit, the gear still works. Current plan is to continue broadcasting distress signal and make for the pod I was dropped in and try to move it back to this cave before the next storm hits. Estimated time once this one lets up: four days. _

_ “Current problems: food and water are extremely limited, and the pod may not be equipped for emergency dwelling and moving. There is a rogue emerald somewhere out over the terrain. Connection to the satellites is spotty and unreliable, and the map may be inaccurate. No known gem outposts on this planet. Will update soon.” _

_ She raised her helmet again. The air was better without it. She moved to the back of the cave, where it was hard to see her from the entrance, and watched for the return of the emerald. She doubted the woman might return, but if she found no shelter and knew of this place which had naught but a body to clear… well, she might just return. _

_ Over the next seven days, 286-B24 made fourteen different journal logs- one in the morning, and one in the evening. She didn’t see the emerald again. It’s begun to worry her. In the first four days, she did find the pod, which had a month’s worth of emergency food supplies. On the eighth day, she was sitting on the floor, leaned back against the pod, eating her food tablet. _

_ She swallowed the tasteless thing. It had a slightly oily surface and is small enough to go down without difficulty or water. She waited a bit before lowering her helmet again. _

_ “The date is oh-2-11-150356102156 This is Homini 286-B24 transmitting from SIVB7 in an attempt to primarily contact Voyager ZI-976 and secondarily any Homeworld outpost. I am stranded planetside. I have three weeks worth of food left. My suit is damaged about the midsection on both the anterior and posterior sides but all tech is up and running.” She waits, heart beating. The pod was equipped with a beacon that can broadcast long range messages across the cosmos. Someone need only run into it. Eventually, she sighed and turns off her mic again. She was going to die in this backwater planet with not so much as a kindergarten or an outpost on its rock-and-sand surface. She had closed her helmet again to begin her nightly journal when she heard static from the pod. _

_ Swiftly, she jumped over the lip and landed in the springy interior and connected her helmet to the pod’s mainframe again. All she heard was the the fuzziness of a bad signal and then- _

_ “...76 responding to a transmission from Homini 286-B24 do you read, soldier?” _

_ “This is Homini 286-B24 requesting you repeat the message.” _

_ “This is Voyager ZI-976 responding to Homini 286-B24. Do you read soldier?” _

_ “I read you. I read you,” she said again, and something like resignation and sadness melts away. She didn’t think she liked these feelings. _

_ “Status report, 286-B24.” _

_ “No permanent damage to physical form but my suit has been ripped in the front and back. All tech up and running. Mild weight loss and borderline dehydration. All tech with the exception of the sensors on the damaged part of the suit up operational.” _

_ “Your mission?” _

_ “Incomplete. The emerald formed and did the damage to my suit. Current whereabouts are unknown.” _

_ “Where are you?”  _

_ “The sigh of a supposed outposts, though no such thing exists in this location. Requesting immediate evac.” _

_ “Request granted. We’ll update you when we’re ready.” True to their word, they did, and in no time 286-B24 is making the short trek between her location and the ship’s, which has touched down. What has also touched down, unfortunately, is a storm. The winds are already getting stronger, and she fights to make a diagonal path through the gusts towards the ship. The door has opened, revealing a big orange Jasper.  _

_ Out of no where, the gem shouts and, before the girl had a chance to react, she was knocked into the sand. She felt wet on her back and she burns there. She managed to half turn over and look behind her. It’s the emerald. She had been there the whole time, watching, waiting, planning. _

_ She moved to finish the job- to kill 286-B24-and suddenly, anger, pure and bright like an apocalypse, burned in the girls chest. She bared her blunt homini teeth at the gem and swore up and down that she would come back to haunt her. _

_ Just then, a strike of lightning lanced down fro*m a cloud that had drawn up over the emerald’s shoulder, striking her gem and shattering her to pieces. As 286-B24 watched, the places where shards met blood became alive, drew back closer to her. In no time, only a minimal amount of fluid was left, the girl was held together by a crust of gem shards. _

_ The Jasper had, by now, reached her. She was picked up in strong arms and did not have the strength to even hold herself at the ready as she’s carried back to the ship. They life off without trouble. She had called lightning. She had claimed a life and the makings of one.  _

_ She was a murderer. _

_ She was a monster. _

_And she was very, very_ valuable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for your patience. I swear I'm working on a better update schedule.


	10. Acclimatization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven continues to acclimatize.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so late guys. Let me know what you think, okay?

Peridot tilts her head back to look at the sky with its scudding clouds and burning sun.

“I always wondered why they didn’t just kill you right then.”

“Did you find out?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Abominations are okay if they gain a diamond power.”

“So you did wake up.”

“And you? You’re awake now?”

“I was always awake.”

“You were just as dumb as I was.”

“I was beaten bloody for nothing. I was contracted to shatter an emerald when they knew full well I wouldn’t be able to. I was sent here to hunt you down to stop the flow of information about modern Homeworld.” This makes Peridot freeze.

“Why do they care?”

“It’s one thing to know of ancient Homeworld. Apparently this new version is so, so different.” Peridot looks at 286-B24 with an impassive expression on her face.

“This can’t go on forever.”

“No, it can’t.”

“How do you think it will all end?” 286-B24 shrugged one shoulder. 

“In tears and shards, most likely.” Peridot nods her agreement. 

“You would like the thrift store, you know. Lots of things to find, just like humans like it.”

“I suppose that would be acceptable.”

 

…

 

As it turns out, 286-B24 does indeed like the thrift store. She shies away from gaudy colors her people were often dressed in whenever they were sold as pets or performers, but takes to the black and the jewel tones like a fish to water. 

With Garnet hovering, ready to pay, Steven, Peridot and even Lapis Lazuli quickly outfit 286-B24 with several pairs of pants, shirts, jackets, and one flowy skirt. It’s a special today- half off, so their total is just under $40.

“We ought to get you underthings, too,” Garnet says as she leads them out along the pier to get the the other end of town, where a Supermart awaits. 286-B24’s go wide in the entrance to the store.

“There… there is so much.”

“Isn’t there? It’s cool because you can buy pretty much anything here and build with it. Come on! I wanna show you the arts section!” Peridot says, suddenly much more animated. With Lapis bringing up the rear, Peridot tugs the newest addition to their band towards the back. 

Steven looks up at Garnet.

“You think she’ll be okay?”

“Why wouldn’t she?” Garnet says. Sometimes, Steven has an intuition that not even Garnet’s future vision can beat. The girl is still wildly unpredictable.

“I dunno… after the mess with the Rubies… maybe we should be a little more careful this time.”

“It’s good to know you’re learning to be cautious, Steven, but 286-B24 is not like the Rubies. She seems to be made of different stuff, both literally and figuratively.”

“So you think she’ll settle in?”

“For now. She seems like a wanderer, to me.”

“Yeah… yeah, she does, doesn’t she?”

“Anything else you want to know?”

“They’ll come after her, won’t they?”

“Undoubtedly. She is valuable to them, and I am still trying to figure out why.”

“But you’re close?”

“Yes.” Steven nods. He can make do with this. If  286-B24 is a wanderer, she should know more about the place she’ll be wandering around. 

 

…

 

That, it turns out, is easier said than done. 

It begins with the beach. The idea is simple. 286-B24 will have an easier time of understanding Earth if she gets out in it. The closest place to get out in is the water. With an additional, secret trip to the thrift store to secure a pair of short swim shorts and cargo pants (both in black) and Garnet’s help, the newest addition to their family is ushered out down by the waves. Or at least, she will be. Garnet is still working on it.

“Kiki! Jenny!” Steven calls, excited as the twins file out of a minivan in the company of both Buck and Sour Cream.

“Hey Steven!” They call.

“Hey kids!” Pearl greets as she flicks a blanket up into the air to spread it out on the sand.

“Hi Pearl!” the twins, at least, know her name.

“Guysguysguys!” Amethyst shouts as she runs over. “Have you guys ever drank clamato juice!?”

“Uh… we tried it, but it’s kind of gross.”

“Are you kidding! All food tastes great!” Amethyst says as she upends the entire bottle into her mouth. 

The next to arrive are Peridot, Connie, and Pumpkin, flown in by Lapis Lazuli. Once her three passengers are set on the sand, she turns away and lays out, statuesque on the sand. She looks asleep, but Steven knows she’s listening. Lapis Lazuli’s favorite type of socializing is watching it done.

“Come on guys! Help me set up the net!”

“Oh! Like we did last time!” Jenny says, excited. She’s looking forward to that rematch. As Steven and the cool kids work to set up the net, Greg pulls up in the Supremo, Lars and Sadie filing out of his back seat. 

Greg pops the trunk after he shuts the car off and pulls out his ancient boom box. D.A.N.C.E. livens up the mood. 

Still in the house, 286-B24 squeezes her hands together, nervous.

“There are a lot of people out there,” she says to Garnet, who stands next to her. 

“Yeah. It’s okay though. No one down there is going to hurt you.” 286-B24 cocks her head.

“I doubt that, but if you say so.” She steps to the door and pushes it open, stepping out into the bright world of the 9 o’clock sun.

 


	11. Hydra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 286-B24's abilities begin to come to light.

Sun glints of miles of dark skin, and all voices quiet just a bit as the teenagers all take in the newest addition to the earth-bound gems. An expressionless face scans the gathering. Then, as only someone new to earth can do, 286-B24 steps down the stairs to stand, barefoot and confused in the sand.

“Why are they all watching?” she says to Garnet.

“They don’t know you. Just go say hi.” 286-B24 casts a wary gaze over the assembled friends of Steven, then settles on Lapis Lazuli, who seems to be perfectly at eace away, yet near them. 

The girl goes and sits next to her, and they don’t talk, but 286-B24 feels as though she’s welcome anyways. She sits quietly while the others play, watching.

So this is what fun looks like.

286-B24 turns her gaze to the ocean. There is something… calling her. She gets up and moves closer. The waves of low tide wash over her feet. She walks until she is up to her knees in seawater, gaze pinned on the horizon. There… there is something… something what? She doesn’t know. 

She walks a little more, water rising first to low, then mid- then high thigh. Something is calling her. The others, by now, have stopped playing. Peridot sneaks a glance at Garnet, whose mouth is tight. 

“I think it’s time to go home,” she says as she moves to follow the alien. Pearl knows that voice. That is the voice that Garnet uses whenever something catastrophic is in her eye.

“Steven, we need to get the humans out of here.”

“O… okay,” he says, worry tinging his own voice. In short order, every guest with the exception of Connie is cleared out as the clouds roll in and 286-B24 gets deeper, her dreadlocks dragging in the water as it laps against her chest.

“You want me to get her out of there?” Lapis says, a little concerned for the newcomer. Maybe she doesn’t know that breathing water will drown her.

“Not yet,” Garnet says, face deadly serious.

286-B24 is now up to her neck in water. Suddenly, she ducks down.

For thirty long seconds, the Crystal Gems and Connie (complete with her word) all stare at the spot where she disappeared. In an explosion of water, the girl is thrown back towards the beach.

“Now!” Garnet barks, and Lapis summons a column of seawater to slow the girl’s momentum and set her down on the beach.

“Come and get me, then!” she barks loudly at the waves. A giant snake with several heads makes its way out of the ocean, baring its several sets of long, sharp fangs. It’s gemstone is not visible just yet, and that worries Garnet, because she cannot poof it.

She holds out an arm, staying the team’s movements. 

286-B24 claps her hands together, and little points on her back and shoulders begin to glow. From her, the form of an emerald appears. The form, big and bulky a lot like Bismuth. Uncomfortably so, if the faces of the crystal gems are anything to go by. The gem, fully colored and bearing an eight pointed star as its insignia instead of the standard triangle or diamond, flings one hand, shooting what looks like sharp octahedrons at the creature, spearing it through three of its five heads.

That seems to work, until the heads regenerate two fold. It only takes a moment for 286-B24 to understand what’s happening here. And the emerald without an emerald does not cut off another head, but instead sticks to slicing through as much neck as she can without actually severing anything. 

286-B24 claps her hands together again, more little points of light glowing through her shirt, to form a second, much more slight gem in shades of gray and black. Pearl gasps. The two constructs work to fight fight the creature, the second one’s weapon a sword large enough to appear mismatched with its physique. 

Lastly, 286-B24 again enters the water, this time at a much more dreamlike state. Clouds have drawn over them, rain streaking down upon the heads of the gathered gems.

“Garnet we have to help her,” Steven says, pleading. Despite his antics and the occasional impulsive decision, he rarely disobeys orders in the heat of a battle. Not when Garnet is the one that gives them. Too much is at stake to be such a loose cannon. 

“A few more minutes,” Garnet says, though it’s clear by how she’s ready to run that she wants to run out and save the newest addition to earth’s extraterrestrials.

286-B24 evidently does know what water is, because she begins swimming out to the monster to meet it while her constructs which Garnet thinks are not constructs fight the heads and keep them distracted. 

The girl arrives at the point where the monster emerges from the water and dives down once more, bubbles popping out of her nose every once in awhile. 

“Okay.” Garnet says, because she doesn’t know how this goes. The team flies into action, while Connie remains on shore, ready but useless.

Steven dives deep, Garnet with him, while the other four keep the heads, which have already poofed the larger construct, busy. 

The water gets darker, and shakes with the creature’s roaring, as Steven in his bubble and Garnet in the open water look for 286-B24. They see a dim glowing and swim towards it amidst the disturbed sand. Finally, they locate 286-B24 as she swims a fast track around the creature’s side, looking for the gem. 

Just as she turns to the surface to find more air, Steven pulls her into the bubble. She gasps and coughs a bit before nodding and jumping back out. For ten long minutes, the trio tracks down the length and breadth of the snake.

Just as they reach the tail, they find it. 

286-B24 draws abreast to it and sets her hand gently over it. Through the water, she motions Garnet and points to the spot just above it. The bigger gem locks her hands together and brings them down as hard as she can where directed, severing the bit of tail from the rest of the body. The entire thing poofs, and 286-B24 grasps at the gem and heads with the other two to the surface. 

They are nearly a mile away from the shoreline, so 286-B24 does not argue when they are picked up by a water construct and carried back to shore. Freshly deposited on the sand, the team takes stock of the gem in 286-B24’s hand.

“Oh.” Pearl says. 

Oh indeed, because the monster proves to be a pearl.


	12. The Setting Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet pulls Pearl aside for some time alone.

In the days and weeks that follow, Pearl gets into a mood that doesn’t lift. It is hard to play with Steven. Training him and Connie feels perfunctory at best and shallow and fake at worst. But still, she trudges on, working them through the same maneuvers a hundred times each until they become instinct. 

And always, always, there is 286-B24, the girl with gem shards in her back and lightning at her fingertips. She is on the sidelines, sometimes watching, sometimes not. Her lips, full and dark, seem to mouth things when no one is looking. 

There are days when Pearl can’t stand her. And yet, she has no choice, she thinks, because to cast her aside is not what Steven wishes. Is not what Garnet wishes. Amethyst, since seeing her emerge with a corrupted gem in her hand, has gained new respect for her gumption and adaptability. They are admirable qualities to be sure, but Pearl misses the days when the one who had those the most was her. 

Now it is the newcomer whose eyes are always watching.

Pearl tries not to watch her back- she really does, but the girl’s presence bothers her. The quiet that seems to descend around her is unnerving. The-

“Pearl,” Garnet says as she exits her room and comes to stand before the skinny gem where she sits folding laundry.

“Ah- yes.” Pearl responds. These past few weeks, Garnet has been devoting most of her time to acclimatizing the girl. It does not leave much room for their relationship.

“Walk with me.” Together, they make their way onto the warp pad. They find themselves, at the sight of the abandoned palequin.

“Why here?”

“Because you have been strange lately, and I do not wish to leave you like that.”

“I hav-” before she can finish voicing her protest, Garnet is wrapping her strong, thin arms around her. Pearl is stiff for a moment, almost fights the pull of the other gem, but it has been far too long. She melt into the hug, and Garnet lowers them both down to lay on the grass. For a while, neither speaks, and Pearl drifts off, though she once found the concept of sleep so alien to her.

Hours later, she wakes up, the sun hanging low and fat above the western horizon.

“What…” 

“You fell asleep. I shouldn’t have left you so long.”

“No, Garnet, you’re doing the right thing. Helping a gem adjust to earth is a big handful.”

“There is more she will do than just adjust.”

“What do you mean?”

“They will come for her eventually, Pearl. Surely you know that. Then, she will have to fight. But for now she’s skittish, and unsure of her surroundings, and if they warped into the atmosphere right now she might just go with them.”

“And if we do it right?” Pearl sits up to stare at the sinking sun. Garnet sets a hand against her lower back and rubs soothingly.

“She might not.”

“How will Steven take it if she goes with them? I don’t want to see what happened with Lapis Lazuli happen with her.”

“I don’t think Lapis’ situation will be repeated. As of now, I can’t see any gem that would or even could fuse with 286-B24.”

“We ought to give her a name,” Pearl says, mouth twisting.

“That is her name.”

“But it’s so… impersonal. I remember my cut and facet and kindergarten and what not, but saying out loud- as my only marker… I don’t know, Garnet. It reminds me of everything I never was.”

“She’ll choose a new name when she is ready. Homeworld is all she knows, as it was once all any of us knew. If I recall, Rose mentioned, calling you by your designation for some months before you were fine with being just Pearl.”

“Because I didn’t think it would work.”

“The rebellion?”

“Yes. I was convinced that one day, I would be captured… sent back to Homeworld to be tried and then shattered for war crimes, and I knew they would only refer to me via designation then.”

“So why did you leave, if you were sure you would die?”

“Because there are things more important than death. And the more I thought of it, the more I knew that remaining stupid and mute for all millenia, was a far steeper price than even a day of freedom would cost me,” Pearl says as she closes her eyes. She can still see her former master, a Goshenite. 

She can remember how that woman once sat at the right hand of white diamond- how Pearl once knew white Diamond’s pearl. She remembers how they would rise early, with the first sun, and make their way via private palanquin through the tall spires that mass-housed white diamond’s domestic subjects. The trips were always short ones. They were important, and were housed nearer to the court than anyone else.

She remembers the other Pearl, who sported a pixie cut with a severe slant and beautiful, luminous eyes. She remembers how-

“Pearl.” The thinner gem jumps and twists around to face her.

“Yes?”

“Stay with me,” Garnet says softly, holding out a long arm. Pearl accepts the invitation and sinks back down into the embrace.

“There is something else troubling you, isn’t there?”

“You saw her back. Those gem shards. We knew there was a zoo, but I had no idea there were experiments- that there was a whole legion of soldiers just like her.”

“I don’t think they are like her. No where in the future can I see another human with a back like that. But there are other fighters. I advise you pit her against Connie, so that she’ll get used to fighting humans too.”

“She’ll have to?”

“Where Steven goes, she follows. She is too loyal not to. Besides, I think you two would be good friends, and I would like to see if you cannot connect with her.” Pearl closes her eyes again.

“Alright, then. I’ll see what I can do.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys please let me know what you think. I really would like to know.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think.


End file.
